Towards Global Citizenship in the language classroom -presented by Renuka Sri

What is Global Citizenship?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1sPcbmlU0

40s-145s

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What could you do?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1sPcbmlU0

152s-242s

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We at the ELC are working towards Global Citizenship in the language classroom by integrating cultural

awareness activities into the programs

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Rationale

• More than one billion users of English.

• The need to interact

> globalisation

> range of nationalities/races/religions

• Interaction skills

> innovative and higher-order cognitive skills

>intercultural competence

>sophisticated communication and collaboration skills.

• Career prerequisite

>Fluency in more than one language and culture

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• ‘Lots of opportunities for concrete experience (homestays, diverse workgroups, service learning, etc.)’

What we

have

• ‘We seldom have structured opportunities for sharing participants’ reactions ‘.

What’s missing

• ‘Pre-planned meetings, scheduled group discussion sessions,’

We need to

provide

-Bennette 2011-

Responsibility

Students need to be able to learn with and from their diverse peers,

work collaboratively and communicate effectively in groups (Gardner 2004, cited in Suarez-Orozco & Sattin 2007).

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Build students’ intercultural

communication skills

to be effective speakers of English in global contexts

Build intercultural competence

empathise with peers of different races,

religions and of different linguistic and

social origins

The focus at the ELC

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This program Encourages

communication Across levels

Not about the academic content but ability for students to listen to different perceptions, pronunciations & respond

spontaneously

The focus at the ELC

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Facilitate the development of these skills

Introduce formal structured program

Implement an ‘across program’ initiative

Get students working together

Use English as a ‘lingua franca’

Build cultural sensitivity

Aims of this session

• Outline the aims and objectives of the program (the why)

• Explain its implementation (the how)

• Show the types of activities used (the what)

• Examine student responses (evaluation)

• Consider some recommendations (the so what now).

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The ‘why’

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• Communication across cultures develop

• other varieties of English being the ‘norm’

acknowledge and accept

• tolerance to ambiguity, conflict and change

• awareness of specific cultural nuances

develop

• multiple perspectives and diversity

appreciate

The ‘why’

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• leadership skills

• problem solving skills enhance

• relationships improve & expand

• self-confidence increase

• collegiate networks develop

The ‘why’

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Being a ‘content carrier’ is not enough. (Medgyes 1998)

The use of English in a culturally diverse society

Cultural Diversity

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• The ELC is culturally diverse

• Being diverse is not the challenge

Regular contact with diversity does not necessarily produce intercultural understanding in students, faculty and staff. Rather, intercultural understanding is the product of intent and design (Habacon 2014).

Cultural Diversity

Our pathway towards Global Citizenship is through promotion of intercultural

awareness and understanding

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Profile of students at the ELC

Based on information from June/July 2014

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Country Number %

China 236 57.0%

Brazil 91 22.0%

Hong Kong 28 6.8%

Japan 12 2.9%

Saudi Arabia 10 2.4%

Colombia 5 1.2%

South Korea 5 1.2%

Thailand 5 1.2%

Iraq 3 0.7%

Vietnam 3 0.7%

Iran 2 0.5%

Pakistan 2 0.5%

Russia 2 0.5%

Chile 1 0.2% University of Adelaide 19

Country Number %

France 1 0.2%

Germany 1 0.2%

Indonesia 1 0.2%

Italy 1 0.2%

Macao 1 0.2%

Papua New Guinea 1 0.2%

Peru 1 0.2%

Taiwan 1 0.2%

United Arab

Emirates 1 0.2%

France 1 0.2%

23 nationalities 414

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China 57%

Brazil 22%

S Arabia 2.4%

Japan 2.9%

Thailand 1.2%

Vietnam 0.7%

Colombia 1.2%

Iraq 0.7%

S.Korea 1.2%

Iran 0.5%

Pakistan 0.5%

Hong Kong 6.8%

Russia 0.5%

Student profile

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PEP & GEAP

GEAP – General English for Academic Purposes

84 students

PEP - Pre- enrolment program

330 students

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PEP & GEAP

PEP 330

GEAP 84

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GEAP

Hong Kong 25

China 19

Brazil 10

Japan 6

Saudi Arabia 6

South Korea 4

Iraq 3

Columbia 2

Thailand 2

France 1

Germany 1

Indonesia 1

Italy 1

Pakistan 1

UAE 1

Vietnam 1

PEP

China 217

Brazil 81

Japan 6

Saudi Arabia 4

Colombia 3

Hong Kong 3

Thailand 3

Iran 2

Russia 2

Vietnam 2

Chile 1

South Korea 1

Macao 1

Pakistan 1

Papua New Guinea 1

Peru 1

Taiwan 1 University of Adelaide 24

0

50

100

150

200

250

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Thai

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Taiw

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Iraq

Fran

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Ger

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Ind

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PEP

GEAP

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Class average No. of classes

PEP 15.7 21

GEAP 14.0 6

Combined 15.3 26

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The ‘how’

• Formal structured program

• GEAP & PEP classes

• Time

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Emails

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Emails

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Schedule

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Activity 1

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Activity 1 – ‘Find Someone’

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Activity 2

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Activity 2 –’Questions’

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Activity 3

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Activity 3 – ‘In my opinion...’

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Activity 3

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Reflections 1

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Reflections 1

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Reflections 2

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Reflections 3

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Reflections - Staff

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Conducting the activities

• Teacher consultations

• One day in a 5-week cycle

• Classrooms

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Findings

• Total number of respondents :354

5 Really enjoyed 42%

4.5 20%

4 15.3%

3.5 10.5%

3 OK 11.3%

2.5 0.6%

2 0%

1.5 0.3%

1 Really disliked 0%

Q1.How much did you enjoy today’s activity?

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Yes 99.1%

No 0.9%

Q2a. Do you think cross class activities are

important in your English Language program?

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Q2b. Why?

Meeting someone new.

• Build relationships

• Familiar with usual classmates so it is interesting to

share ideas with new people

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Q2 b. Why?

Opportunity to practise listening and speaking skills –

• sharing /exchange ideas on different topics

• giving opinions

• using English in a different situation than the usual class

• Talking about interesting topics

• Practise pronunciation

• Find out our shortcomings

• Improve vocab

• Practise casual English

• Listen to another teacher

• Speak more rather than listen to teacher

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Q2 b. Why?

Speaking with people of different

cultural backgrounds

• Increase interaction between cultures

• Broaden our ‘horizons’

• Open our minds

• Understand ‘different thinking’

• Understanding different cultures

• Increase knowledge of another country

• Exchange experiences

• Understanding different accents

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Q2b. Why?

• Enjoy the activity

• Different focus

• Relaxation from

assignments

• Improve confidence

• Increase interest in

English

• More fun

• Practise critical thinking

• Speaking without

pressure

• Overcome shyness

• Motivated when meeting

new people

• A change

• Enjoy my stay in Australia

• Get idea of my English

level

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Other responses

Meeting someone new59.9%

Going to anotherclassroom 7.1%

 A change in the usualprogram 29.7%

Other3.3%

Q3. What was your favourite part of the

activity?

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Q4. What did you find the most difficult?

a) understanding the other

students' pronunciation 15.30%

b) Listening to other accents 9%

c) Lack of vocab 34.80%

d) My ability to express my ideas

in English 18.90%

e) The classroom was too

noisy 3.40%

f) Starting a conversation 10.30%

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Lack of vocab 34.8%

Expressing my ideas inEnglish 18.9%

understandingpronunciation 15.3%

Starting a conversation10.3%

Listening to otheraccents 9%

The noisy classroom3.4%

Q4. What did you find the most difficult?

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Once a week 42.7%

Once every two weeks41.5%

Once every 5 weeks15.8%

5.How often?

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What the teachers say...

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1.What do you think the students get

most out of a cross class activity?

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• A respite from intense academic work.

• Discussing interesting topics not just academic ones.

• Meeting new students.

• Exchanging ideas.

• Validation that they are capable of communicating

• Meeting people with different points of view , different

outlook on life.

• Compare and contrast different cultures with their own.

• Listening/speaking practice

• An opportunity to respond spontaneously

• Interacting with students they may not have the

opportunity to meet again.

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And...

2. Do you personally think it is a

worthwhile activity?

• All yes

• One ‘Yes…but’

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2b. Why?

• Engaging, nice to have some enjoyable social activities

• The buzz - indicative of the successful outcome.

• Relaxing

• Students are engaged and enjoy interacting

• It develops basic communication skills and provides

something light and unpredictable for the students.

• Observe the students in a different context.

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Why

• Not in the last 5 weeks of PEP

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3. What do you think the students find

the most difficult?

• Pronunciation

• Vocab

• Noisy classroom

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4. Would you like a program like this to

continue to run at the ELC?

• All yes but 1- felt it needed to be relevant to the courses

they were enrolled in

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5. How often?

Students Teachers

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How often?

Once aweek

Once everytwo weeks

Once every5 weeks

How often?

Once aweek

Once everytwo weeks

Once everyfive weeks

Limitations of this program

• No perfect match of GEAP & PEP

• Some nationalities are a dominant group

• Classroom size

• Problems with vocab

• Not enough focus on culture in some activities

• Not all the teachers completed the feedback forms

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Limitations of this program

• Time to organise this structured program

• Big language centre – not enough time to get all

programs involved.

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The ‘what now?’

• Looking at the activities:

The new focus not only English but also a cultural

aspect – ‘We are not that different – traditional

games’

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Traditional games

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Traditional Games – Close up

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Traditional Games – Close up

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Traditional Games – Close up

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Famous Icons

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Famous Icons- close up

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Case study

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The ‘what now?’

• Pre-teach vocab before the activities ( lower levels)

• Have a practice run first ( lower levels)

• Have more informal inter-class sessions

• Have two formal sessions per 5 week block?

> currently ~ 1h per 100h block

> aim ~ 2h per 100h block?

• Continue with student & teacher feedback

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Thank you

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References Bennette, J 2011, 'Developing Intercultural Competence For International Education Faculty and Staff ', paper presented at the AIEA conference, San Francisco, CA, USA, 22 February 2011

Habacon A E (2014) The Intercultural Promise : Intercultural understanding mid-level strategic plan UBC Vancouver, The University of British Columbia Vancouver Campus: The University of British Columbia Vancouver Campus.

Ramburuth P, Tahhan D.A (2008) Developing Intercultural Competence in Business Education Exemplars and Activities, Available at:http://sydney.edu.au/business/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/74431/UNSWDevIntCompBusiness.pdf(Accessed: 01/09/2014).

Sinicrope C, Norris, J, Watanabe Y (2007) Understanding and Assessing Intercultural Competence: A Summary of Theory, Research, and Practice Technical Report for the Foreign Language Program Evaluation Project, University of Hawaii at Manoa: University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Suárez-Orozco M.M & Sattin C (2007) 'Wanted: Global Citizens', The Prepared Graduate, 64(7), pp. 58-62.

The British Council (2008) Global citizenshipn in the English language classroom,Available at: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/GlobalCitizenv2.pdf(Accessed: 01/09/2014).

What is Global Citizenship- EUSA 2014 , Youtube, 13 Mar, accessed 30 August 2014, < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1sPcbmlU0>.

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